Coffee, cakes – the usual stuff!
I started with a cold on Wednesday evening, yesterday a sore throat but I was still tasting well – but today – I can work out the temperature and balance but no more. Lucky my 110 wines, blind tasted, were yesterday! Hence, coffee and cakes 🙂
I think the sun returned today – 23.5°C – that’s the first time since the second half of March! My visits were a homage to Chardonnay Day, though I’ll admit – one day early:
After my morning tasting of Mâconnais, I decided to jog up to the top of the Rock of Solutre – kind of disappointed that it turned out to be only 1.4 km – in my memory, it was more! Still, the distance was double as there’s also only one way down 🙂 The afternoon brought a visit to Thivin’s Clos de Rochebonne in the Pierres Dorées* region of Beaujolais – their white wine, of course! Though I should note that contrary to the ethos of Chardonnay Day, Claude Geoffray has a little Gouais Blanc planted in the vineyard – well, I suppose we could say that it’s chardonnay’s mum (or dad!)
Of-course much more about today’s visits in my May Report, for subscribers…
*Did you know that ‘La Pierre Dorée’ is a commercial brand of ‘industrially produced’ cheese in France? Who would have thought!?
And a lot of rain too Рyesterday it started wet, but was dry at lunchtime so I decided to run up the C̫te de Py and back around to Villi̩-Morgon Рmy timing was good Рby 14h40 it was raining cats and dogs Рbut it was vingnerons rather than the clouds that gathered РI was lucky to escape with my life!
Today it was like April – showers and sun – actually the temperature too – nobody thinks there will be an August harvest now – more like 10 Sept in Beaujolais – let’s see!
The plain of Gevrey today…
Today was a wet day – not the few spots of sandy, Sahara, rain of yesterday – today was proper rain, and there will be more in the next days too. Perfect for the vines.
The vines are now pushing out their leaves such that the view of the vineyards is transitioning from its winter characteristic, to its summer characteristic; winter sees a base of green grass and weeds, with brown lines of dormant vines – now we have the contrary – ploughed brown soil with green lines of vines – the inversion is well underway!
Prior to the frost, the vines of the Côte d’Or were well over 10 days ahead of the average vintage – now it’s less. This rain, coupled to temperatures in the low twenties, means that there will be a steady, rather than explosive, growth in the vines – a few days of 28-30° are needed for ‘explosive’ – and that’s not yet on the cards…
18h30 the curtain of cloud, the border between rain and blue sky, passed over Vougeot – time for another jog, in the sun, no-less!
It started raining the moment I arrived in the Côte de Nuits yesterday – so my jogging stuff still wasn’t dry by the evening – but great news for dog fanciers – the Complexe Sportif (restaurant) in Gevrey has a friendly new puppy – much fun. The dog pictured was much older – from in my last visit of the day – but still something of an icon in Marsannay!
This morning – blue sky and sunshine – until 9:00am – when all was covered in the fine mist that you usually find in Autumn – perfect for jogging around Beaune!
The rain that was forecast for practically all of this week – didn’t really materialise until this evening – at least in Beaune anyway! So today we managed a good, and dry, walk – picnicking in Meursault, before heading back via Plures, Santenots, Caillerets and Champans, to our car in Volnay. Then a quick run around Beaune before the heavens opened – oh and our apero!
Less herbicide treated vineyards to see today – except for Santenots and the ‘villages’ bottom of the hill – there’s very little in Volnay, a little more-so in Monthèlie, and at-least by the route that we took – not much treated this way in Meursault. 20 years ago I could understand the use of glyphosate – the wines whilst not cheap, weren’t expensive either. Today these are all expensive wines, and there’s no excuse…
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